Dominion Boxing is hosting its 11th Smoker Fight night starting at 5:30 p.m. on June 19.
Next month will mark a year since the combat focused workout gym/emerging fighting team started hosting Smoker Fights which was key to its explosive growth.
Smoker Fights are unsanctioned exhibitions fighters use to get ready for a sanctioned fight, or the smoke before the fire so to say. Winning and losing isn’t important, its about getting live rounds against an opponent.
They are generally hosted at gyms and are not well publicized or have much flare to them.
Owner and operator of Dominion Boxing Eric Villarreal has been apart of his far share after his recent entry into the fighting world. He wanted his Smoker Fights to be different.
“We travelled all over Texas and saw sanctioned real fights,” Villarreal said. “Those would be productions, they would be shows. There would be lighting, ticket sales, alcohol sales. We took a little bit of that world, the showmanship and we transferred it the Smoker Fights.”
While the production quality is there, it was also the timing of it all that attracted fighters from all over.
“During COVID every gym was closed and there was nowhere to go,” Villarreal said. “We kind of cashed in on that because we were still holding fights in Bowie because the restrictions were a little less here.”
As more and more people have come on and started making the gym in Bowie their home base of operations, more and more opportunities are sprouting up for Dominion Boxing.
“We have both the cardio fitness model and the now organically, we just fell into having this competitive fighting model, both streamlining out of the same facility,” Villarreal said. “I don’t know how we got here because if I could understand it I could undo it. It just organically happened with me letting go of control and letting the people build the gym.”
Mixed martial arts and grappling coaches have come to the gym to help the growing stable of local fighters train for bouts all across the southern part of the country on weekends. The fight team at the gym is called Dominion Training Camp.
Villarreal is in the process of getting his license so they can start hosting sanctioned fights. He hopes to be approved by this fall.
Once he is licensed the city of Bowie has already approved he can move the show to the community center to host MMA fight nights since the gym can hold only so much of the crowds coming to the Smoker Fights every month.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.